CTC’s Award-Winning National Media Campaign
Many people have been intrigued by the Canadian Tourism Commission’s award winning campaign – Locals Know. It features traveler video and photos showcasing out-of-the-way places leaving it up to the audience to guess where these places are in Canada?
The campaign includes an interactive web component with groups on YouTube and Flickr and LocalsKnow.ca Web site. These sites encourage user contribute by adding their spots. When using social media and encouraging public participation, it is important to make sure that photos, videos and stories are accurate.
The CTC put in place a review process to ensure accuracy of User Generated Content.
- Your spot has to be in Canada
- It should be a spot most people have never heard of
- Make sure your spot isn’t already posted on the site
- All spots are reviewed before they are added to the site.
The Quality Assurance Gap
Before considering uploading and sharing information about our wonderful Algonquin Park location I clicked on a canoeing photo on the front page of the site to see if Algonquin Park had yet to be added.
Yup, sort of.
The problem is, the photo was NOT taken anywhere near Algonquin Park. As beautiful as the park is, we don’t have snow covered mountains as shown in the background of this photo.
Compounding the error, the photo in question was posted by the Canadian Tourism Commission.
Knowing that star power boosts credibility and wanting to make it easy for renowned twin fashion designers the Caten brothers to have their photos on the site, the CTC posted this photo on their behalf to highlight the beauty of their favourite traveling spot – Algonquin Park.
Lessons Learned
Take the time to put in place an accuracy review system for owner-generated content as well as user-generated content!
